Colleges Look to "Big-Screen Research" to Stay Relevant and Collaborative

Young, Jeffrey R.

Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr 2012

When VCRs became affordable, the film industry worried that people would stop going to the movies. Theaters have not gone away, but they have changed, with many now focused on delivering spectacles that can be seen only in a grand setting, with a big screen and booming sound. Traditional colleges now face a similar challenge, thanks to free or low-cost courses delivered online. One response may come from a Hollywood-style trend emerging on some campuses: large-scale video walls. The banks of high-resolution monitors are designed to let neck-craning students and researchers show images in more detail and to collaborate more effectively on projects. The author reports on how colleges look to "big-screen research" to stay relevant and collaborative.